unsworthblue said:
He has a job as an apprentice plasterer/builder waiting for him,not as a doctor or accountant but all the same an opportunity to make whatever he wants of himself.I think everyone who knows him knows that he isn't ever going to make it in a job where you need to be academically gifted,he may surprise us all one day and end up being the finest architect the country has ever produced but somehow i doubt it.Just a quick question,did you send your son to this private school you talk about or was it just your daughter?
I have to confess to having seen Scooby Blue's post and saw an opportunity for a bit of a wind-up. Sorry about that. If he's got the opportunity to get a trade behind him then he could do very well indeed for himself particularly if the economy ever gets moving again. Having said that, I wouldn't have taken my kids out of school but it's not the end of the world what you're doing with your nephew.
But it's an interesting question you ask about my son and worthy of a debate on its own. He went to the local state school (because that was the right place for him and it was quite a good one) and it was partly through our experience of that that we sent my daughter to private school. The difference in the attitudes they drum into the kids is quite noticeable. The state school was more interested in its place in the league tables than in getting the maximum out the kids so it forced many of them into GNVQ's, which were easier and gave more league table points instead of challenging the kids to gain GCSE's. It was the path of least resistance all the time.
The independent school would simply not accept anything but the best from the kids and ensured they were challenged and stretched all the time. They taught at such a pace that if she ever took a day off sick it took a real effort to catch up.
